Weekend Box Office Report: ‘The LEGO Movie’ Constructs a Big Opening

And here we are: five weeks into the new year and we already have our first major blockbuster of 2014. Early estimates had 'The LEGO Movie' opening big, but the animated adventure shattered all expectations this weekend, with universally positive reviews and word of mouth sending the film to a massive opening.

Film

Weekend

Per Screen

1

The LEGO Movie

$69,110,000

$18,307

$69,110,000

2

The Monuments Men

$22,700,000

$7,363

$22,700,000

3

Ride Along

$9,394,000 (-21.9)

$3,355

$105,167,000

4

Frozen

$6,914,000 (-22.6)

$2,811

$368,678,000

5

That Awkward Moment

$5,540,000 (-36.6)

$1,972

$16,848,000

6

Lone Survivor

$5,293,000 (-25.4)

$1,845

$112,580,000

7

Vampire Academy

$4,101,000

$1,533

$4,101,000

8

The Nut Job

$3,809,000 (-47.7)

$1,268

$55,082,000

9

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

$3,600,000 (-32.2)

$1,683

$44,469,000

10

Labor Day

$3,230,000 (-37.6)

$1,250

$10,172,000

With $69 million in the bank, 'The LEGO Movie' is already one of the biggest hits of the year and it's barely even getting started. Unless something goes wrong (and it shouldn't), it should reach $200 million with ease. The big question is whether or not it'll have the gumption to get to $300 million, but it doesn't have a lot of direct competition in the coming weeks. More importantly, people really love the movie and adults won't mind going back for second or third viewings if their kids demand it. The only thing troubling about this is the massive line-up of brand-focused movies we'll now start seeing in the next five years.

In second place, 'The Monuments Men' opened well, grossing $22 million. Acting as excellent counter-programming against the all-ages 'The LEGO Movie,' the World War II drama is off to a solid start. However, the word of mouth and reviews haven't been too strong, so the film may find some trouble in the weeks ahead as interest starts to wear off. With a $70 million budget, this one is going to have to work hard to turn a profit. It's not impossible, but it could go either way at this point.

Although the weekend was anchored by those two releases, it was a surprisingly solid three days for many films in the top 10 ... with the notable exception of 'Vampire Academy,' which opened at number seven with a dismal $4 million. The 'Twilight' rip-off came about two years too late to be relevant (we've moved on to dystopian young adult stories now, haven't you heard?) and the anemic marketing campaign didn't help. This one simply never stood a chance. In comparison, the seemingly drab weekends for 'Labor Day' and 'Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit' look pretty solid, with both films taking smaller percentage drops than you'd expect.

On the more positive side of things, 'Ride Along' passed $100 million this week, taking in $9 million and bringing its current total to $105 million. 'Frozen' is finally starting to slow down a little, but its $6 million weekend puts it only $1 million away from surpassing 'Despicable Me 2' as the highest grossing animated film released in 2013. Honestly, the only thing standing between it and $400 million is the huge success of 'The LEGO Movie.' Speaking of films that aren't happy for the existence of 'The LEGO Movie,' 'The Nut Job' has made $55 million so far, but its surprise success is about to come to an end with the arrival of more competition.

Next week sees the release of 'RoboCop,' but expect 'The LEGO Movie' to hold onto that number one spot.